Haven´t We Met Before
by Emily R
Summary: Remember the line in the season five episode Latent Image where it turned out they (J/C) were at the same sumo wrestling match years earlier…well here is what happened.


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HAVEN´T WE MET BEFORE??  
  
By Emily May 2001  
Disclaimer: I don't own them but I am giving them a life...  
Summary: Remember the line in the season five episode Latent Image where it turned out they were at the same sumo wrestling match years earlier...well here is what happened.  
  
Kathryn excused herself and squeezed herself past the rows of people and finally plopped down on her seat. She had been looking forward to this, normally she never went to sumo wrestling matches but she had a free day and wanted to do something new and this promised to be an exciting match. She vaguely noticed the man sitting next to her cough. Then she heard him snicker. She turned her head.  
Oh my what a smile was her first thought. The man was looking at her with a bemused looked on his face, she wondered what he wanted. He didn't look like a nut but looks can be deceiving.  
"Sitting comfortably?" He asked smiling  
"I'm doing okay" Kathryn said not looking at him, fervently hoping the game would start.  
"Good, I´d hate to hear that my hand was uncomfortable".  
She did a double take, what is he talking about, his hand.....oh god.  
She looked down and noticed that she had plopped right onto his hand.  
She quickly stood up and he removed his hand from her chair.  
She was still standing and he looked up at her and smiled. She smiled back. Soon they were both laughing.  
"I'm so sorry, I can't believe I didn't notice." She sat down again, this time turning slightly towards him.  
"That's okay, I guess I'm lucky it was you and not someone bigger."  
She was about to say something but was interrupted by the two contestants coming into sight and the game started.  
  
People were cheering around her but she couldn't have said what they were cheering at. She found she couldn't concentrate on the game, she couldn't help noticing the man sitting next to her. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, his hair was jet black and his mouth seemed to smile easily. She tried to focus on the game but whenever he moved even the slightest her gaze was on him. She just hoped he didn't notice.  
  
He stood up after the match ended and people began walking towards the doors. He noticed her slowly walking towards the nearest exit. Truth be told he had been constantly aware of her so he started walking in her direction.  
  
"Did you enjoy the game?" he asked as he stood next to her in the line to the transport.  
"Yes I did...how's your hand?"  
"I think it's going to be okay"  
"Good, I´d hate to have inflicted serious damage".  
They stood smiling at each other, both enjoying the casual banter, marveling that it was so easy, they had just met after all.  
"Would you like to go have a drink somewhere?" he asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them.  
"I´d like that" she said, "and I know the perfect place".  
  
She took him to a small café with live music, old earth jazz to be exact. A couple was dancing quietly in the middle of the room to the slow rhythm of the band playing on the small stage. They sat in a dark corner of the room watching the couple dance. They had spent the evening talking and drinking their drinks, she drank coffee, he drank tea. It was late and they were both thinking of how they really should be leaving. And still neither of them moved.  
  
"Would you like to dance?" she asked half wishing he would say no.  
"I'm a terrible dancer, haven't done it in years. I´ll probably step on your feet."  
She smiled and stood up holding out her hand to him  
"My feet can take a lot of punishment" she said.  
"Sort of like my hands I gather" he said standing up and leading her to the dance floor.  
She batted him lightly on the arm as she took a step back trying to look hurt.  
He just laughed and pulled her to him and they started swaying back and forth in a slow dance.  
  
She enjoyed the feeling of him close to her, his hand on her waist the other gently holding her hand, the feel of his chest under her cheek and the scent of him. She was definitely drawn to him, although she thought, logically she shouldn't be, she didn't even know him, and she had never been one to get this close to a man on the first date! And she wasn't even sure this could qualify as a date.  
  
As the music continued he brought their clasping hands to his chest and leaned his head against her soft hair. He hummed slightly to the music and she looked up at him and smiled and felt a gush of warmth when he smiled back at her, his gaze a mixture of desire and affection. She felt a myriad of emotion run through her body, some she should definitely not be feeling. Like the urge to press her body even closer to his, although she doubted it was possible. She also had a strange urge to rip open his shirt and kiss his chest, and the rest of him.  
  
She realized the music had stopped and they stopped moving but otherwise remained in their position.  
"We should probably be going". She said  
"Probably"  
They didn't move.  
"Where are you staying?" she asked before she could stop herself.  
"At a hotel about five minutes from here... come with me."  
She couldn't speak so she just nodded separating he took her hand and together they started walking to the hotel.  
The minute they entered his hotel room it was like a dam broke, their mouths meshed together and their bodies pressed against each other. Their hands were frantic to touch and soon their clothes were removed and lying strewn about on the floor. The first time he entered her was against the wall, her arms and legs rapped around him while he pumped into her.  
During the night they made love several times and only eventually found themselves in the bed where they finally in the early hours of the morning fell asleep.  
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Kathryn awoke with a feeling that she was being watched, slowly turning her head she saw him looking at her, she smiled a little shyly.  
"Good morning" she said  
"Good morning...I want to see you again, soon"  
"Id like that, I have to go back to San Francisco, I have some business there."  
"How about we meet there, do you know a café called Night Owl?"  
Kathryn nodded  
"Ill meet you there for lunch a week from today"  
Kathryn just nodded again.  
"Now I have to go" he said and brought his mouth down to hers for a kiss  
He dressed silently and she just lay there looking at him wondering who he was, what he did for a living and realized she didn't even know what his name was, feeling slightly foolish asking him all those things at the moment she decided she wouldn't, realizing that they would have all the time to find out things about eachother when the met in San Francisco.  
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Captain Kathryn Janeway exited Starfleet headquarters and headed for the transport shuttle that would take her the Utopia Planitia. She had just received her orders for Voyagers maiden voyage, she was to enter the badlands and find out what happened to the Maquis ship and, if possible, find it and apprehend the rebels, including she hoped her chief of security Tuvok who was undercover on the ship.  
As she strolled through Starfleet grounds she wondered why the captain of the Maquis ship, name Chakotay, looked so familiar, shaking her head she pinned it down to the fact that he used to be a Starfleet officer, she had probably seen him at some function or at headquarters she thought and didn't give the matter a second thought.  
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Kathryn sat behind the desk in the ready room aboard Voyager, she sighed deeply and took another sip of the coffee that had already grown cold, she didn't mind. There were a lot of decision to be made and she felt overwhelmed, confused and lost. Not so strange since she was lost, they all were, she had made sure of that. She chided herself for feeling sorry for herself for being lost when she was the one who had ordered the caretakers array to be destroyed. If she honest with herself she knew she had made the right decision, but that didn't make it any easier, and the crew would definitely not take any comfort in that, especially not the Maquis crew. The Maquis. Her mind whirled and she took another sip of coffee. Oh the decisions! The Maquis captain was on his way, despite everything she had a good feeling about him and not only because he had supported her decision to destroy the array, he seemed like a sensible man and he had been a Starfleet officer once.  
  
The door chimed and she called out for him to come in. As he entered the room she was again struck by the feeling of familiarity, where have I seen this man before!  
"Commander, how is everything with your crew, are they alright?"  
"As alright as they could be in the current situation"  
He was avoiding looking directly at her, he tried to hide it but she could tell, maybe he's just nervous she thought  
"would you like a drink?" she asked as she headed for the replicator to refill her coffee cup  
"no thanks" he replied  
Coffee in hand she took a deep sigh and sat down again  
"Look commander I realize this is probably the last place you planned to be, or even wanted to be but I hope in time you'll come to think it not quiet so bad."  
"Frankly captain it's a little hard to be enthusiastic about spending seventy odd years locked up in quarters or in the brig."  
"I have no intention of locking you up anywhere, or your crew. I hope that they'll become valuable members of this crew. And I hope that you will except the position as my first officer."  
"Are you serious!" he asked not being able to contain his surprise.  
She smiled, "I'm very serious"  
"I was sure you'd make Tuvok your first officer."  
She shrugged, "I think your better suited for the position. I need someone who can help me bridge the gap between Starfleet and Maquis, you are a respected captain among the Maquis and you were once a respected Starfleet officer, as I see it there's no question that you're the man for the job."  
He was silent for a long time, she waited patiently. Suddenly he stood up  
"Alright captain, I´ll do it but I want to make sure you understand that I expect to be given the same authority and respect as any second in command in Starfleet, if I do this I do this because I'm good at the job, not because you want to appease my Maquis crew."  
She stood up and looked at him squarely in the eye, then extended her hand towards him, he took it and she smiled.  
  
The minute he smiled back at her all the memories came flooding back to her, the sumo match, the dance and the passionate love making. He saw her stiffen and draw back her hand quickly and realized that she had remembered.  
For several minutes they just stood there looking down at eachother and when they dared cast a glance at the other quickly turned away when the other noticed.  
Kathryn was fighting her emotions, this was him, the man she had spent so many nights dreaming about, wondering about. How could I not have known it was him! She wished he would leave, she needed to get her bearings and that was very hard with him standing there knowing that she knew.  
"Well captain, I´ll see you tomorrow" he said hesitantly.  
"Yes...of course commander... goodnight"  
He turned around and quickly walked out of the door. The minute the doors closed she collapsed onto the floor and broke into tears.  
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If Kathryn had thought things would be strained with her new first officer before their meeting in her ready room that was nothing to how it was on the bridge the next day. Kathryn tried to act natural around the crew, walking around the ship and talking to all the crewmembers. But around her new commander she was silent and tried to avoid him if possible and he didn't seem to mind.  
Luckily there were a lot of things to do and as time went by they managed to get more comfortable in each others company and with their jobs together. Still Kathryn couldn't help wonder about what had happened and about why he hadn't come to their appointed meeting San Francisco but she didn't want to risk destroying the cooperation and ease they had with opening up the can of worms as she saw it. What she didn't know was that Chakotay felt the same way, he was afraid to talk to her about it, thinking that as time went by they would be able to speak more freely about it. And so days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.  
They were right about one thing, they both got more comfortable around each other and the times when one of them lay in bed and wondered about the past got more infrequent.  
Even when they were both stuck on a planet together they didn't speak of it. Neither of them wanted to drag the past into view and both thought that it had been a one time thing that hadn't meant that much, and both of them understood the precarious position they were in.  
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It wasn't until almost three years later, on a grassy slope overlooking Lake George while sipping a glass of champagne that they finally talked about it. Later on she would think that it was probably the champagne that made her ask in the first place.  
"Why didn't you come?"  
"I beg your pardon"  
She looked at him a little shyly and then looked away again.  
"To the Night Owl, in San Francisco, remember...?"  
"Oh...." Chakotay looked like he would panic for a second wondering why she was bringing that up after all this time. Another part of him felt glad that she had been the one to have asked so that he could finally explain. He smiled sadly and put his champagne glass down onto the ground.  
"I tried to come but due to the increasing instability along the Cardassian boarder I was called away on a mission, I managed to come later that afternoon but of course you weren't there. I asked around if people had seen you but it was virtually impossible to get any clear information."  
They were silent a long time.  
"I sat and waited for hours. It was embarrassing. I went from being worried to angry to frustrated to being sad. I tried to find out who you were from the hotel where we... where you were staying when we met but I didn't find out anything. When did you realize it was me, did you recognize me directly three years ago?"  
"Not directly no, I knew there was something familiar about you but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Besides, my mind was so jumbled with everything else that I didn't give it a second thought. It wasn't until in your ready room when I saw you smile that I realized that it was you."  
Kathryn smiled at him "it was the same for me, the minute I saw your dimpled smile, and when you touched me I remembered. And then I panicked" she laughed shaking her head.  
They sat for a long time gazing into the distance, remembering.  
"So what happens now?" Chakotay asked and immediately regretting it. She didn't answer. Gently he put his hand on her chin to direct her head towards him and was stunned to see that she was crying,  
"Oh Kathryn" he said and immediately scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm protectively around her. She stiffened a little but as he murmured comforting words to her she relaxed and buried her face in his chest as she cried.  
He didn't know exactly why she was crying but knew that she probably hadn't done it in quiet a while and he was glad he could be there so she had a shoulder to cry on instead of doing it alone in her quarters. Eventually she stopped crying but didn't move away from him, cherishing the feeling of being enveloped in his comforting arms.  
"Chakotay"  
"Yes Kathryn"  
"I wish things could be different."  
He didn't have to ask what she was referring to, he knew and in truth he understood.  
"I know Kathryn, I know."  
"I just wanted you to know, to understand." She looked up at him and he gently stroked her tear stained face.  
"I do understand Kathryn, really. I was things were different as well. I'm still hoping that someday they can be."  
She closed her eyes as she felt his hand on her face and grasped his hand with her own holding it on her cheek.  
"Someday" she said quietly.  
They sat there for a while longer until they were too sleepy. Getting up they exited the holodeck and walked towards the turbolift.  
They came to his quarters first and stopped in front of the door and looked at each other one last time, knowing that in the morning the captain and commander had to be present. She took a step closer to him and gently kissed him. When they finally separated they both smiled.  
"Thank you" he said  
"For what!" she laughed  
"Showing me that I wasn't a fool in keeping the faith"  
She smiled tenderly and gave him a hug before beginning the short walk to her own quarters. As she walked away she turned around and said to him,  
"Never loose faith Chakotay, never!"  
With that she walked away again leaving him smiling and hopeful for he knew that she loved him and that someday, somehow they would find a way, either in the Alpha Quadrant or on Voyager to be together.  
THE END  
  
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